Preview: X Music Festival

Bristol is often thought of as the West Country’s bass epicentre, producing some of the most genre-defying beat makers in the country. In just over a week a fine selection of these Bristol bred acts will cross the bridge to join a world class lineup at Wales’s largest ever outdoor music event.

X Music Festival may have only been born in 2015, but it’s already established itself as one of the most promising, up-and-coming dance festivals in Europe. This year, on June 3 – 4, a varied and high profile array of dance and urban acts will descend on Cardiff city centre once more, with headliners including Annie Mac, Craig David, Andy C, Shy FX, Flume, Hannah Wants and Stormzy. 

Bristol gem Eats Everything (Daniel Pierce) will be joining the star-studded bill on Saturday June 4 as one of over thirty festival appearances this summer. Daniel started his career in Lakota’s deceased little sister venue Club Loco and soon picked up multiple residencies around Bristol. In 2011 Dan released the aptly named Entrance Song and in the twelve months that followed he won DJ Magazine’s Best British DJ award, became the only DJ ever to do two BBC Radio 1 essential mixes within the space of a year and was even charted #13 (unlucky for some) in Resident Advisor’s Top DJ poll. We could go on and on about his achievements over the last five years, but skip forward to 2016 and Dan is working on his own Edible imprint, globe-trotting with his clubbing brand of the same name and, most importantly, continuing to prove himself as one of the UK’s finest dance music exports.

Local Duo My Nu Leng, AKA Tommy and Jammo, will also be representing Bristol vibes at this year’s event. The pair may have hailed from High Wycombe and Kent and moved to Brizzle a few years ago but it’s great to hear that our city’s music heritage is such a stimulation for their production, and I love that they fully understand the cultural importance of bass music in Bristol. It is safe to say that Tommy and Jammo have really flourished since their relocation to Bristol. As well as having three releases under their belts for Black Butter and MTA Records, they have had heavy radio support on BBC 1Xtra and BBC Radio 1 and toured the US, Australia, New Zealand and even Asia. With new music on the way and a packed diary of live tour dates, these are exciting times for My Nu Leng, who are a duo with massive potential. 

Another X Music Festival recruit to start their career at one of our city’s nightclubs is Redlight. Real name Hugh Pescod, he was raised in a village just seven miles from Bristol and spent the ’90s indulging in our infamous free warehouse parties and illegal raves. Hugh played his first official set in Thekla and has since gone on to bring us multiple bangers including Lost in your Love, 9Ts and last summer’s festival banger Gold Teeth. Hugh has nailed sounds across a multitude of genres, whether under his now discarded drum & bass alias DJ Clipz, as UK bass project Animal Youth, or most famously as Redlight. Now living to London there is much less of a Bristol light shining through on his production, but nevertheless his career is rocketing and we’re proud to call Hugh a Bristol veteran.

A recent article suggested that in the ’90s Bristol were at the forefront of a powerful new mainstream music scene directed by the likes of Portishead, Massive Attack, Tricky and Roni Size, but we are no longer receiving any mainstream love. It even suggested we were still waiting for any more acts to join the likes of George Ezra in the Top 40..

We are proud of the music emitted from our local hub, and there’s no doubt that we are always going to be at the vanguard of creating new sub-genres, regardless of whether it pleases the ‘masses’.

Besides, the acts above are just a small sample of local talent that are not only competing with the big guns, but winning. 

X Music Festival 2016, Bute Park, Cardiff, June 3 & 4. For more information visit xmusicfestival.com